Civil Rights Nominee Defends Record at Hearing

President Bush's pick for the top civil rights post at the
Department of Education finally had a chance to make his case to a
Senate panel last week, five months after he was nominated.

Gerald A. Reynolds, the nominee to become the assistant secretary
for the office for civil rights, faced some tough questioning from
Democrats, especially Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, who
expressed skepticism about Mr. Reynolds' qualifications for the
position.

Some civil rights advocates have contended that Mr. Reynolds, based
on his past writings and statements, may not be aggressive in enforcing
the civil rights statutes under the OCR's purview.

He tried to dispel such concerns at the Feb. 26 hearing.

"If confirmed, I will uphold the Constitution and vigorously enforce
this nation's civil rights laws," Mr. Reynolds told Health, Education,
Labor, and Pensions Committee members, who are considering his
nomination before it moves to the Senate.

The administration in June first proposed Mr. Reynolds, 38, to head
the OCR, but didn't formally nominate him until late September. The
office is charged with ensuring equal access to education and promoting
educational excellence through enforcement of five federal laws that
protect against discrimination based on race, national origin, sex,
age, or disability.

As of last week, it remained unclear whether the Bush administration
could muster the votes needed in the closely divided Senate education
committee to win approval of his nomination.

Sen. Kennedy, a leading liberal and the committee chairman, seemed
to doubt if the conservative nominee's credentials were a good match
for the post. Before becoming a consultant to the Education Department
last year following his nomination, Mr. Reynolds worked for nearly four
years as the senior regulatory counsel for Kansas City Power and Light
Co. in Missouri.

"Your resume is an impressive one," said Mr. Kennedy, who, however,
suggested it was short on education and civil rights experience. After
running off a list of education issues related to civil rights, he
said, "What work have you done over the period of recent years, in any
of these areas?"

Mr. Reynold replied by pointing to his position, from March 1997 to
August 1998, as the president of the Washington- based Center for New
Black Leadership. He said he spent half his time in that job on
education issues, visiting schools, meeting with education experts, and
reviewing research literature. He also said he was an education major
in college, and had worked as a student-teacher.

The Reynolds Record

Mr. Reynolds was a legal analyst for the Center for Equal
Opportunity—a research and advocacy group that has opposed racial
preferences— for about a year and a half, beginning in 1995.

Beyond his professional credentials, it is Mr. Reynolds' views that
have come under fire from traditional civil rights groups. Among other
positions, he has argued that racial preferences in college admissions
and government contracting exacerbate racial tensions and discourage,
rather than promote, minority achievement.

In a Feb. 25 letter to Sen. Kennedy, the Leadership Conference on
Civil Rights, a consortium of about 30 civil rights and labor groups,
argued that Mr. Reynolds "holds extreme positions on many civil rights
issues, is openly hostile to affirmative action, and publicly minimizes
the pernicious effects of racism and discrimination."

Mr. Reynolds used the Feb. 26 hearing to clarify some of his views.
For example, while acknowledging that he has emphasized barriers for
African-Americans other than racism—such as crime, educational
quality, and out-of-wedlock births—he said he does not discount
racial prejudice.

"Up until 30 years ago, we had a racial caste system in large parts
of this country," he said. "It really didn't matter how smart you were,
it didn't matter how industrious you were; your skin color, my son's
skin color, would determine his fate. Now, things have changed. That is
not to say, though, that discrimination is no longer with us. ... It
will always be with us."

Mr. Reynolds also said he is not opposed to affirmative action as
such, though he suggested it is a poorly defined phrase that "means
anything to anybody."

Asked for his views on racial preferences, he said that "if the
state can show a compelling interest and also demonstrate that the
means are narrowly tailored, then the use of racial classification is
permitted. That is the law, and that is what I will enforce."

'Disparate Impact'

Mr. Reynolds was asked repeatedly by Democratic senators to discuss
his position on "disparate impact," a method used to identify potential
discrimination in situations in which policies may be race-neutral but
still have the effect of excluding a certain group of people, such as
women or minorities.

"I've been cooped up for quite some time, unable to address these
issues," he told the senators. "The disparate-impact theory, it is a
very powerful tool for smoking out discrimination." He added, "If I am
confirmed, we will continue to use that powerful tool, as well as all
the other tools that we have in our tool kit at the office for civil
rights."

Sen. Christopher S. Bond, R-Mo., a member of the education
committee, testified in support of Mr. Reynolds at the outset of the
hearing. "He's a skilled attorney who understands the role of the
office for civil rights," he said.

William L. Taylor, a veteran civil rights lawyer and vice chairman
of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, was not impressed.

"Mr. Reynolds is functionally illiterate about civil rights laws,"
Mr. Taylor asserted after the hearing, contending that the nominee had
failed in many cases to answer, or even fully understand, questions
that were posed to him.

Some observers have predicted that the vote on Mr. Reynolds will be
tight. The closely divided committee is made up of 10 Democrats, 10
Republicans, and Sen. James M. Jeffords of Vermont, the former
Republican who is now the sole Independent in the Senate.

Mr. Jeffords, a potential swing vote on the nomination, requested
the hearing. He has not made up his mind, said his spokesman, Erik
Smulson, but was "very impressed with the nominee's testimony."

Vol. 21, Issue 25, Pages 28, 35

Published in Print: March 6, 2002, as Civil Rights Nominee Defends Record at Hearing

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